The semi-finals of Duel Battlers has begun with Yukina dueling against Hebi. Just before the duel starts, Henry was kidnapped by Diego so his power would be drained by Life Destroyer. Hana and Cindy went to save him without telling Yukina so she could focus on the duel.
"You might have your big bad snake, but it won't help." Yukina said as she had her Wild Ally Alligator and Crocodile with 1600 and 1700atk points. She also had herself protected with Wild Self-Defense from any effect damage, but she had 2400LP.
"We'll see about that." Hebi said. He had all of his life points with his Venomous Deity Akurra with 2800atk points, and it was also equipped with Molting Escape. That means it can avoid being destroyed once per turn and will gain 300atk points.
"It's my turn!" Yukina said as she drew her next card. "I'll start by playing Charitable Reward! By paying 800LP, I can draw two more cards!" She said as she drew two more cards with her life points dropping to 1600. "Now, I'll tribute both my crocodile and my alligator to tribute summon Wild Ally Phoenix!" Yukina declared as both of her monsters were tributed and her beautiful phoenix emerged on the field with 2500atk points.
"There it is! Yukina has brought out her ace, but it's not strong enough to beat Akurra!"
"Next, I activate Wild Force to give my phoenix another 500atk points!" Yukina said as her phoenix's power increased to 3000.
"So what? My own equip spell will just make my monster stronger and will avoid being destroyed." Hebi said.
"That might be the case, but my phoenix is still stronger. Plus, the moment you use Akurra's ability, I'll just use my phoenix's ability to block and destroy it!" Yukina said. "With that, I'm ending my turn."
"This is interesting. Yukina has a powerful monster, but won't attack with it. Probably a smart move."
"That's all you're going to do? You won't win like that! My turn!" Hebi said as he drew his next card. "I summon Venom Serpent to the field!" He summoned out his snake once again with it having 1000atk points. "With that, I'm activating my serpent's ability!"
"Say what?" Yukina questioned.
"I can't attack with my serpent this turn, but what I can do is place a venom counter on your phoenix!" Hebi said. His serpent used its power and a venom counter was placed on her phoenix, but nothing happened.
"That makes no sense. Without Venom Swamp, that counter won't do anything. What is he up to?" Yukina questioned.
"You'll see! Akurra, attack her phoenix!" Hebi said as Akurra stretched out some snakes, but they were all burned away the moment they came in contact with her phoenix and Hebi's life points dropped down to 3800. "It might have cost me a few points, but Molting Escape will make Akurra stronger!" He said as his monster grew even stronger and was now stronger than Yukina's phoenix with it now having 3100atk points.
"That guy might be a freak, but he knows what he's doing out there. He's not afraid to get risky if it means he can deal some damage later down the road." Cray said.
"Where are Cindy and the others? They're missing one heck of a duel." Kent said, but Sylvia knows and is hoping they'll be back soon.
...
The Black Ace
Cindy and Hana went to the Black Ace building to rescue Henry, but they encountered Diego. Unwilling to move aside and determined to reach his goals, Diego stood in their way. Just as it seemed like he was going to unleash his fury on the girls, another joined this party as Taiyo arrived and kept Diego from doing anything.
"You again?! Who are you that you dare stand in my way?!" Diego said. "How did you even get in this building?! What about all the security I had?"
"Your guards are a joke, Diego." Taiyo claimed.
"Taiyo! What are you doing here?!" Cindy said.
I heard the semi-finals of this tournament was starting. I had to come see it to make sure Yukina defeats Raika." Taiyo said. "On my way, I saw the two of you run here. Thinking there was a problem, I followed you. Good thing I did." He said as he stared down at Diego. "I finally have a chance to face you after what you did."
"I'm sorry, but am I suppose to know who you are?" Diego questioned though he didn't really care.
"I will never forgive you. It's time you answered for what you did!" Taiyo said as he seems to have his own personal vendetta against Diego himself.
...
The Duel
"It's my turn!" Yukina said as she drew her next card. 'He's up to something since he placed that venom counter on my phoenix. It must be some sort of contingency in case he's not able to destroy my phoenix. Whatever it is he's planning, I better end this fast.' "Wild Ally Phoenix, attack his Venom Serpent! Shining Wildfire!" Yukina skipped straight to the attack. Her phoenix was ignited in flames and dived straight at the smaller snake. That snake was completely incinerated and Hebi took some serious damage as his life points dropped to 1800.
"Boom! Yukina managed to score big damage against Hebi!" Everyone loved seeing Yukina winning in this, but it was still a long way to go.
"I'm not done quite yet. I summon Wild Ally Octopus to the field!" Yukina said as she summoned out a new ally. A red octopus emerged out on the field with the signature collar around the head. It also had 1500atk points. "I place one card facedown and end my turn."
"Is that really it? You summon a monster wide open for an attack." Hebi said. "Wait. Could that face-down be something that protects it? Could it be Wild Alliance to prevent you from taking damage? Do you honestly think that will be enough to protect you?"
"Get on with it." Yukina said as she's running out of patience with him.
"Fine. My draw!" Hebi said as he drew his next card. "Now, what should I do? Should I just attack with Akurra and destroy your precious phoenix, or should I should I place more venom on your monsters? It must be quite fearful."
"Fearful?" Yukina questioned.
"Not knowing what I could do or what I'm going to do." Hebi said.
"Don't listen to him, Yukina! He's trying to get in your head like he did with Hana!" Kent called.
"Come on. She needs to hurry and finish this." Sylvia said.
"You think you're safe, but everyone thinks the second before something scary happens." Hebi said. "You can try to act brave all you want, but you're really scared. There's no reason to hide it. Let me show you as I summon another slippery friend. Say hello to Venom Snake!" He said as he summoned out another snake with it having 1200atk points. "Now, by not attacking with it this turn, I can place another venom counter on your phoenix!" His snake used more of its venom and placed another counter on Yukina's phoenix. "And you know what, I think I will destroy your phoenix knowing how precious it is to you, and I'll be safe to use Akurra's ability once again! Akurra, attack her phoenix with Savage Snake Strike! Bring me some fun in this duel!"
"You're kind of fun isn't allowed here!" Yukina said. "I'm activating Wild Alliance! Since I have two Wild Allies on the field, I can block your attack once every turn!" She said as the attack was completely blocked.
"Oh well. I'll place two cards facedown and that ends my turn." Hebi said as he seemed completely calm about the whole thing.
"Hebi didn't accomplish much of anything and his turn was just wasted. Is he giving up or does he have something sneaky up his sleeve?"
"He's too calm. What is he planning?" Cray said.
"Whatever it is, it wont' be good for Yukina." Kent said as they're all starting to get worried on what might happen to her.
"My turn!" Yukina said as she drew her next card.
"That's right, and that means I can now activate my trap!" Hebi said as he acted before she could. "First, I'm activating Reptile Scales! This trap allows me to destroy one spell or trap card for each reptile I have on the field! I now have two! That means I can destroy both of your traps!"
"Oh no!" Yukina said as she saw a series of snakes dragged both of her cards away and she lost her defense against them.
"That means that I'm now free to cause you all the damage I want!" Hebi said as he was getting very excited. "I now activate Venom Burn! By removing all the venom counters from your phoenix, I can deal 700 points of damage for each counter!" Both the counters jumped off her phoenix and splashed against her. When they did, it felt like acid was burning against her and she couldn't hold back her screams. Her life points dropped down to just 200 and she looked like she was in real pain. "Yes! That's more like it! You're finally being dealt some pain and fear! There'll be more to come than just that!" Everyone didn't like seeing Yukina like that as it looked like she was really hurt.
"Why didn't she use her phoenix's ability to block either of those cards?! She's lost her only defense against that guy!" Kent said.
"She must have a reason!" Sylvia said, but it wasn't looking good.
"I bet you never experienced dueling like this before, and it's only going to get worse for you!" Hebi said. "You don't want that, do you? Too bad because that's what you're going to get! Now admit it, Yukina! Admit that you don't like this way of dueling because it fills you with fear and pain! Admit that dueling isn't what you thought it was! Admit that you are scared!"
"Scared?" Yukina said as she wasn't even looking up or moving. Could it be that Hebi actually got to her like the others?
...
The Black Ace
"I don't know what you're talking about, nor do I care." Diego said as he faced Taiyo. "As far as I'm concerned, you are just another source of energy for Raika to absorb. You were quite powerful, I saw that when you helped Sabaro escape. You're power will make a fine addition."
"You really are a walking pit of darkness. You're just a bottomless abyss." Taiyo said. "You don't care one bit about the kind of future you're making for the world."
"The future? Of course I care." Diego claimed. "It will be a future for Raika and Life Destroyer to rule over others! The future will be one that is controlled by the Black Ace and no one else because we have the power!"
"You're talking about a dark future. A future that should not come to pass." Taiyo said. "A bright future is one that comes from the heart and the spirit."
"From the heart and from the spirit?" Cindy questioned.
"Yeah. Something that my teacher taught me." Taiyo said. "The power of a deck lies in the heart. If you can harness that power, you can make a brighter future for yourself and for others."
"Ha! That's nothing but nonsense!" Diego claimed. "That nonsense you, Yukina, and the rest of you spout is nothing more than sentimental nonsense for weaklings to feel better! In reality, there's no such thing! You are talking like everything comes from light, but it's quite the opposite! Everything comes from darkness! It is the void and nothingness of darkness that everything comes from! Even the beginning of time and the universe came from darkness! There is no force greater than that. Accepting that fact is how I became as powerful as I am now!"
"Powerful?! Is he serious?! He hasn't even done anything but manipulate others!" Hana said.
"You're cocky, but you only say that because you've never care for anything other than yourself and your own sick desires." Taiyo said. "One's spirit can be stronger than you think." It just so happens that there's an example of that dueling right now.
...
The Duel
"Scared? I am scared..." Yukian said as she said what Hebi wanted to hear. "I'm scared I won't make it to the finals, scared that I won't beat Raika, but scared of you personally? No way!" She said as she was brave and strong as usual.
"What?!" Hebi said as that wasn't what he was going for.
"Why would I be scared of someone who takes pleasure out of the misery of others?" Yukina said. "To me, you're just another powerful duelist that I want to beat. You've got nothing that makes me scared of you!"
"No! You should be afraid of me!" Hebi said.
"Everyone might be afraid of something, but I don't see why I should be afraid of you." Yukina said as this was going the opposite of what Hebi wanted. "Thanks to my octopus, I can use it as two tributes for this! I tribute summon Wild Ally Unicorn!" She traded away her octopus and summoned out a green unicorn with it racing across the field and had a total of 2400atk points.
"Check it out! Another mythological creature just like the phoenix!" Sylvia said.
"So it looks like the ones that are level seven or higher are a mythological creature." Cray said.
"I activate my unicorn's special ability!" Yukina said. "Once per turn, I can take any spell from my deck and activate it right now! I know just the card! I activate Wild Fusion!"
"Wild Fusion?!" Hebi said.
"That's right! I'm fusing together my Wild Ally Phoenix with Wild Ally Unicorn!" Yukina said as her two monsters began to fuse together and brought out a new power. "Watch as the brightest of light pierces through all the shadows! I fusion summon Wild Ally Shimmering Phoenix!" Yukina summoned out a brand new phoenix. This one hard large tail feathers with it shining a brilliant light. It also had feathery tendrils from its tail feather circle around its wings to its front with head feathers that are like a peacocks. Not only was it larger than her other phoenixes, but also the strongest with it having 3500atk points.
"No! This can't be!" Hebi said.
"It is!" Yukina said. "This is how dueling should be! It should only be something fun and amazing!"
"I'm not having fun!" Hebi complained.
"Normally, Wild Ally Shimmering Phoenix can deal damage equal to your monsters attack points after it destroys a monster." Yukina said. "I know that's a problem with that Molting Escape, but there's another ability! Akurra loses 300atk points for each level of the monster that fused with my phoenix! Wild Ally Unicorn was a level seven! That means Akurra loses 2100atk points." Her phoenix shined a light that was painful to Akurra with its power dropping all the way to 1000. "It's over, Hebi! Shimmering Phoenix, attack Grand Shining Wildfire!" Her phoenix unleashed an intense explosion of rainbow fire. The blast smashed up against Akurra and was dealing some damage with it falling apart.
"No! This can't be happening! Not to me!" Hebi said as the blast smashed against him and he lost all of his life points. Yukina managed to cut the head of this snake off.
"It's done! The snake has been vanquished by the phoenix! Yukina wins!" M.C. announced as this was the victory everyone was hoping to see.
"Way to go, Yukina!" Kent cheered as Yukina turned to her friends.
"That's great, but we need to go now! Cindy and Hana might be in danger!" Sylvia called with all three of them worried about what she meant.
...
The Black Ace
"No more stalling!" Diego said. "You came in here acting all brave and tough, but you haven't done anything! I say it's time to just hand over all of your power over to Raika."
"Diego, you think everything comes from darkness, but you don't seem to understand that there will also be light wherever there's darkness." Taiyo said.
"Enough of this nonsense. How do you even plan to stop me? Are you actually trying to talk me into giving up what my own organization is striving for?" Diego said.
"Actually, I'm just trying to keep you from moving from that one spot." Taiyo said as he looked up. "I was up there for a reason. I fiddled a little with the chandelier up there." All of them took a look at what he was talking about. Taiyo actually did had a small charge set on the chain. It finally reached zero with a small explosion going off. That caused the chain to break and the chandelier to fall and it was going to land right on top of Diego. The chandelier crashed down and they lost sight of him. An attempt to make the abyss that stood before them disappear. Cindy and Hana tried to shield themselves from the shards, but Taiyo stayed perfectly calm. Could this really be the end of Diego now? "Goodbye...and good riddance."